[RozG]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this but as it was a direct result of childhood abuse...I don't see where else to out it? Apologies in advance if i give any mod the hassle of having to move it.

I grew up what i call a runaway brat....coz i was...lol. Anyways IRL none of my mates ever had to go there so...despite them being sympathetic to the probs i still have now from it...they know i sometimes feel like a freak over it. Like they know i'm not comfy with new folks who come along knowing about it until i'm ready to say for any reason. But despite how great my friends are about it all...sometimes it's lonely in that...i know they TRY to understand what it must've been like and what probs it caused but...deep down i know they don't get it coz they've thankfully never experienced it.

Anyway....stupid as it may seem to some...i'd just like to know if i'm the only one here too?

[MyBestKids2]

I'm confuzzled yeah, big surprise..

Are you asking if there is anyone here who ranaway alot as a child/adolescent because of abuse in the home?

K, if you are, then I'll throw my hand in the air !!!

If not, sorry....

[RozG]

LOL that's exactly what I'm asking...if anybody else ran away and roughed it. And glad somebody came in and threw their hands in the air...I was starting to think I'm the only one here. LOL.

[bchlyn]

i never really ran away... but when my mom was away on a trip... and i knew it wasn't safe at home for me i would take my sleeping bag and go across the street to the beach and sleep under the lifeguard stand... lyn

[RozG]

awwww....that must've been scarey for you. *hugs*

[bchlyn]

at the time it "felt" safe... i know that sounds crazy... but the beach is my safe place... always has been...lyn

[RozG]

i know what you mean...it doesn't sound crazy to me either...the hills were always my safe place and still are.

[Cthomas]

I actually ran away for about a year. I moved in with a friend who's family had an apartment building and her and I lived there. The tradeoff was her dad was dying and needed help. So we did. It was really one of the best years of my life. I just threw them all away.

Colleen.

[RozG]

I know what you mean about that being one of the best years of your life. One of my best was living in a shelter when I was a teenager...might sound weird but it was a safe roof.

I'm sorry you feel like you've thrown years away but you must know you're making up for it now? Whether you realize it or not...you're a massive help and support for people here and an inspiration for me.

[Cthomas]

Hey thanks for the backup. actually what i meant was i "threw away the family" because of the hurt.

it was only a year but it was a GREAT year. nights with no food was just FINE with me! as long as i didnt have the heartache.

I appreciate you telling me i am an inspiration. I dont feel like one, but its nice to hear from others. my self esteem is SHOT lately.

For the record you all are an inspiration to ME.....
Hope youre day is safe

Colleen

[Cyran0]

As an early teen I ran away once but it didn't last. I was found hiding out at a friends. It was incredibly embarrassing and especially painful to see my Mom in tears. I didn't try that again.

I did, however, move out on my own at 17 which was a more grown up version of running away.

Cyran0

[Cthomas]

The P's wouldnt let me move out.....so i had to leave...

sadly enough. i contacted my parents after leaving, thinking they would say come back, we miss you....all i got was well youre on your own now kid....took a YEAR before they even wanted me back...kinda sad I know.....

Ok im over it......

however, that being said it truly WAS the best year of my life back then,

[RozG]

i wish i was over it....life before the shelter was sucky...life now is sucky

[onlymedid]

I was a runaway from the age of 5. Yeah...5. I ran away all the time to escape the unsafe environment. Then I get sent to group homes and foster homes where it was harder to run cuz they'd grab you if you did.
So, yeah...I was a runaway

BJ

[RozG]

((((((((BJ)))))))) you're braver than me...i'll always been ashamed to own how young i was...outside of social workers coz they got it on record anyways. and i never got caught. sorry to know you went thru crap like that growing up, you're such a sweet person.

[onlymedid]

Thanks KJ. Don't be ashamed, no reason to.
With me it was really bad, but I am dealing with it in T now. It is sooooo not easy, but I vow to never treat my future children the way I was.

[youOme]

When I was 13 I began running the streets. I was severely addicted to drugs and runaway from wherever I was living at the time. Occasionally I would return for food and clothes then runaway again. The longest I was gone was 2 months, my parents and family all believed I was dead. I wasn't dead but I may as well have been during those times....these months I have very little memories of because I was so high the entire time.

When the law caught up with me because of some drug possession charges, probation violations, and a felony up to boot....they locked me up. I escaped. They locked me up again, I escaped again. I did this over and over. Finally they sent me to Arizona and placed me in a therapeutic home for teenage girls. The facility sat 30 miles on top of a mountain in the middle of a desert......there was no escaping there.

That year saved my life.

I don't mention it now, but I have revealed this to close friends. I was a horrible person during this era of drug use and hurt a lot of people along the way. During the time I thought I was in so deep there was no turning back. I truly hurt innocent people, I mean really hurt them.....beyond emotions. I'm the luckiest person in the world though....they had all forgiven me, I had forgiven them, and I had learned from my sufferings.


The reason I don't mention this era to people is because they may believe there is still a bad part of me, a person capable of hurting others like this couldn't possibly change. I DID change....I just wanted to say that.

[RozG]

((((youOme)))) i've never taken you for a bad person...and thank you for sharing.

[bchlyn]

i believe you... it's good to hear that there is hope... thank you for sharing...lyn

[youOme]

thanks for listenig and understanding.

[Razzleberry]

I'm not an abuse survivor, but I did run away from home when I was 11 years old. I lasted about a week on the streets, living in the mall, catching busses forever. Then I got caught hitchhiking and I was sent to a group home for a few days until they could figure out who I was (I gave them a fake name).

Looking back...I can't imagine what it would have been like if I actually stayed out there like I planned. I only had $10 bucks in my pocket and a few changes of clothes. I was 11. Kind of scary now to think about it.

[RozG]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Razzleberry said:
I'm not an abuse survivor, but I did run away from home when I was 11 years old. I lasted about a week on the streets, living in the mall, catching busses forever. Then I got caught hitchhiking and I was sent to a group home for a few days until they could figure out who I was (I gave them a fake name).

Looking back...I can't imagine what it would have been like if I actually stayed out there like I planned. I only had $10 bucks in my pocket and a few changes of clothes. I was 11. Kind of scary now to think about it.

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((((Razzleberry)))) ... i'm so glad you weren't out there any longer...the things you gotta do to survive on the streets as a long-term run away hurt you too much and never fully leave you.

lotsa love and hugs to you

I thought this post was interesting, because it was interesting to see how people define "runaway."

Myself, I grew up in foster care and ran away alot, especially when I was 12-14. I lived in friend's houses, in abandon buildings, and in the woods by the lake. For food, I ate in shelters, stole, or grabbed food out of the trash (you should see the stuff resturants throw away)

When I was 15, I got caught and returned to foster care. At that point, I decided i needed to finish school or I would never make it. I stayed in FC until I aged out and finished school...

I hate when people say awful things about homeless people ~ very few people would choose to be homeless. They are homeless for a reason, like mental illness, abuse, etc. They need help and support, not hate.

[RozG]

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Riptide said:

I hate when people say awful things about homeless people ~ very few people would choose to be homeless. They are homeless for a reason, like mental illness, abuse, etc. They need help and support, not hate.

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well said Riptide...i grew up a runaway on the streets and when one of my ex-b/f's found out...the insults that came out his mouth that's why he's an ex-b/f....no child chooses to live on the streets and do whatever they have to to survive....and no adult chooses it either...i know a lot of adults that ended up on the streets coz due to circumstances they had to go to a shelter but couldn't take the abuse there...there's lotsa reasons folks end up on the streets...don't mean they're bad folks...just fallen on bad times is all.

[seeangelinasee]

i never ran away as a kid.. guess i didn't really have to. my parents were the runaways.. moved us 6 kids from city to city, state to state ever couple of months. i went to 11 different schools in 6 different states before i was in 3rd grade. now that i'm an adult (almost 27) and have 3 kids of my own...i'm a runaway the same as my parents. my son is 8 and has been enrolled in 4 schools in 2 states, 4 cities. i see the pattern, i understand the "whys" of it, just wish i could confront my fears instead of jumping ship. twice i've put us in the car with little $, leaving EVERYTHING we own behind to go - where? away.

does this count?